WATCHING a movie, sitting near me: tippity, tappity, snort and giggle! all through the feature.

DRIVING in the lane next to me: tippity, tappity, LOL, swerve into my lane.

EATING across the table from me: tippity, tappity, slightly unfocused glance back up at me every few minutes to give the illusion you’re listening to what I’m saying.

Here’s a news flash – you are NOT giving that illusion. Nobody believes you are listening. Especially when it penetrates your phone-daze that I’m waiting for you to reply, and it’s obvious that you have absolutely no idea what I just said.

You take a chance and go with a vague smile and little laugh. Eventually you’ll realize I just told you I had been bitten by a rabid tsetse fly and would be dead in 2 days. Will it occur to you that laughing may not have been the best response to my statement that this was our farewell dinner? That I’ll be foaming at the mouth by morning and gone the next day? You probably won’t even notice, unless Ashton Kutcher tweets from my funeral.

How do you think people feel when they realize you’re more concerned with whatever the little men inside your magic box have to say, than what THEY are sharing in real-time and real-life?

To protect the guilty I’m not naming names, but for the love of Pete (and Peg), please…

Amen, Peg!! I “love” when Peppermeister says we can only watch certain things on the DVR, but then just plays with his phone while we’re supposed to be watching! And then he gets mad at ME when I say, “Screw this. I’m turning on 19 Kids and Counting!”

Holla! I’ve been there, done that. It’s why I won’t get a smart phone – I know I would be way to undisciplined to stay off the thing for more than a few minutes at a time. That’s why we don’t have the interwebz at home. That, and because I’m a caveman.

(Squinting at computer screen, entralled with your post) Uh huh…(tippity) Oh, Peg this post is hilarious with the–oh, hold on a sec…(tappity) And the part about the–(puts finger up to pause and giggle while looking down in lap again) yeah, the part about the–(furiously tippitying and tappitying) with the thing about the Ashton Kutcher tweet thing and the–(tippity, tappity, more giggling) I’m sorry, what were you saying again?

Great post, but the title has sparked an internal debate about which activity is worse. I think I’d rather have the random stranger sitting next to me in the dark in the movie theater playing with his phone than playing with himself.

I don’t think of this as a rant; I think of this as a perfectly legitimate request for civility in a society that has slipped into some kind of lapse of common courtesy. Bravo to you! (But I’m kind of old, too, so consider the source of your support on this one… ) 😐

I had such a rant at my grandson last week. I picked him up from school and after a cursory Hello Ganma he started to text. I pointed out that he made me feel like the driver and if that was how he saw me I wouldn’t bother to make the one hour trip to pick him up. i just don’t know what the obsession with texts is. I do send text messages occasionally but never when I am with somebody else, unless there is an emergency.

I would totally jump on board the rant train. I pride myself on being pretty calm and collected… once in a while. The other day I smacked a brand new iPhonePad thingy from my sister’s hands. The other day was not one of the once’s in once in a while.

Sing it, Peg! Reason #8678 why I don’t own a smart phone. (That and because I’m too cheap/inexperienced with new technology to figure one out.)

I’m happy that you were fake bitten by a tsetse fly and not by a “TESTES” fly like I first read. I was thinking to myself, “Illinois has TESTES flies?! Note to self: NEVER GO THERE!” But if it’s only tsetse flies, I’m game. 🙂

Well thank you so much! I am way, way too lazy to ever do the follow-up work involved in awards (although I would probably make an exception if there was a huge, cash bonus included), but I really appreciate the shout out.

So daughter’s boss gave her tickets to a concert. That was nice. Daddy happened to text her while she was leaving the concert. Daughter texts him back, doesn’t notice STAIRS in front of her. Falls down a flight of stairs, breaks foot one week before her new insurance kicks in. NOT funny. You already know I hate, despise, deplore Technoville except those musical notes are kinda cute.

Oh no…not the 13, 14 key…they don’t exist…try holding ALT with your left fingers, then with your right fingers strike 1+3 on the number pad, (not the numbers above the alpha). And don’t press +, first “1” then “3”, the same with “1” then “4”…voilá. Please let me know you’ve got it. Now if you’re working on a laptop, I’m not successful anymore. Once I had a laptop that had the num pad numbers, but not any more.

Do not get me started … do not let out that beast.
Cannot stand the fidgeting between verbal and virtual conversations. Unless, it is me trying to leave a comment, while the hubs is asking me a question.

Preach it Peg! I couldn’t agree with you more. This kind of behavior is not only selfish, ridiculous, and very rude, it’s also mindlessly dangerous when it involves roads and vehicles, and people’s lives are being endangered by self absorbed idiots oblivious to the fact that yes, your electronic hypnotic stupidity can be fatal!

You are so right, Chris. Behind the wheel of a car it’s not funny at all. When I’m driving down the road and I see someone on their mini-computer I want to ram them off the road. I think a jury would understand, don’t you?

It’s amazing how the phone has intruded into everything: bathroom stalls, restaurants, and those folks wearing Jawbones, traipsing down grocery aisles who look like they’re talking to the canned corn, just make me nuts. Some guy hauled his mom (via phone) to Subway and as they made her sandwich, he checked with her on every stupid vegetable, and type of chips. HINT: Write it down, next time you’ll know what she wants.. Okay. Thanks. I’ve got that out of my system so I don’t have to blog about it. I can just rant about it over here at your place.

You know those homeless folks who seem to be talking to themselves as they wander through town? I bet they really are people who own bluetooth headsets.. (I’m sure the government subsidized said headsets…) Those things are far safer than texting. Used to use one when I would travel far distances for ministry, really helped me to keep my eyes on the road.

This reminds me of when someone makes a completely inappropriate comment on one’s blog. Great post and it needs to be said a lot more often otherwise our species may mutate into hunched over, voiceless creatures who can only communicate with their thumbs.

That happened in the church last week. The poor little old lady couldn’t figure out how to get it out of her purse and turn the damn thing off! At least most kids are so adept and sneaky with them, only the tippity tappity gives them away.